List of Home and Away characters introduced in 2016
Home and Away is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. The following is a list of characters that appeared in 2016, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the soap's executive producer, Lucy Addario. The 29th season of Home and Away began airing on 1 February 2016. [|Dylan Carter] was introduced during the same episode. Isla Schultz and Lindsay Ford arrived in March. May saw the arrivals of Mick Jennings and [|Tori Morgan]. Her brothers – [|Brody], [|Justin] and [|Mason Morgan] – were introduced in June. The following month, Tabitha Ford arrived. Hope Morrison and Raffy Morrison made their debuts in September, while Jeannie Woods made her first appearance in November. Justin's daughter Ava Gilbert was introduced in December.
Dylan Carter
Dylan Carter, played by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, made his first appearance on 1 February 2016. Lindsay Taylor's casting was announced on 5 August 2015. He commented, "I have always wanted to be a part of this. Home and Away is an institution, it is iconic Australian TV. It is great to finally be a part of the family. I play a great role, my character is very complex and very interesting so that is really what drew me to it." Dylan Carter is a detective, who works alongside Katarina Chapman, following his arrival in Summer Bay. Lindsay Taylor said Dylan would be kept busy and added that he had a connection to the Bay. The actor reprised his role in 2017. Dylan returned in September that year, as part of a storyline involving Robbo, who suffers from amnesia. Lindsay Taylor reprised the role for another guest stint in September 2019.Dylan is the lead detective on the Charlotte King murder case, working alongside his former fiancée Katarina Chapman and Mike Emerson. Dylan knows how uncomfortable Kat is when he signs up for the investigation, but Kat tells him that she is okay with his presence. Dylan and Kat question Martin Ashford, Zac MacGuire and Zac and Charlotte's teenage son Hunter King. Dylan asks Kat out to dinner as friends, but Kat refuses his offer as she is still affected by the abuse she suffered by Dylan. He apologises for his actions and Kat agrees that he should be sorry. Kat and Dylan question Irene Roberts over a piece of Irene's clothing being found at the crime scene but she is then cleared. Dylan asks Billie Ashford a few questions and questions Phoebe Nicholson about Ash's whereabouts on the night of the murder before he violently arrests Ash but is later cleared after Kat finds an alibi. Kat and Dylan discover that Charlotte had a second phone and learn that she made a call to Kyle Braxton half an hour before her murder. They soon come to a dead end with Kyle but they discover footage from the Bait Shop that clearly shows Zac following Charlotte. Dylan then charges Zac with Charlotte's murder.
Morag Bellingham represents Zac and she immediately clashes with Dylan. At Zac's bail hearing, Morag notices a suspicious look between the judge and Dylan moments after Zac is denied bail. Morag later confronts Dylan about it. Zac is later released after Morag finds an alibi proving that he was at the caravan park at the time of Charlotte's death. Dylan and Kat stray from work to reattach before they find an article of a sex tape of Charlotte and Matt Page that has been released to the public. Matt is questioned but cleared. Determined not to let Dylan win, Kat asks Zac's wife Leah Patterson-Baker if she remembers anything that was dodgy. Leah remembers Morag saying she had bad feelings about a look between the judge and Dylan after Zac was denied bail. Kat pays a visit to the judge and blackmails him into confessing that Dylan knew about an affair the judge was having and used that to blackmail him to refuse Zac bail. Kat then takes the judge's statement to Phillip McCarthy who is appalled. McCarthy brings in David Joyce who tells Dylan is suspended until further notice. When Kat is alone at the Farmhouse, Dylan approaches her and tells her how they belong together. Kat tells him to go, and when he grabs her arm, she pushes him to the ground. She tells him that he is pathetic and that she is not going to let him intimidate her anymore, and Dylan leaves. Dylan has a run-in with Billie at the gym. Dylan later attacks Ash and holds him, Billie and Kat hostage at 31 Saxon Avenue. Kat tells Dylan that he has not dealt with the death of his son Anton properly, and he is arrested.
The following year, the police find Dylan's blood and gun on an abandoned boat that is also linked to amnesic Robbo. Constable Corelli later finds CCTV footage of Dylan holding Robbo at gunpoint in a marina. Two years later, Robbo has a flashback to the day he and Dylan were on the boat together. He and Dylan fought and Dylan was shot, but as Robbo's back was turned, Dylan hit him with a metal pipe, knocking him into the water. He then saw Dylan being helped into a second boat, confirming that Dylan is still alive. Robbo is kidnapped while visiting his family's graves and held captive in an old bunker. Dylan reveals himself to be behind Robbo's kidnapping, as he knows Robbo has been looking for him. He tells Robbo that he was not responsible for having his family killed. Dylan and Robbo fight, and Robbo gets the upper hand. He handcuffs Dylan and takes him to meet Ouroboros gang leader Victor, who tasked Robbo to find Dylan. Victor's gang and Dylan are arrested by the Australian Federal Police. Several weeks later, Robbo learns that Dylan has been murdered in his prison cell.
Isla Schultz
Isla Schultz, played by singer Samantha Jade, made her first appearance on 3 March 2016. The character and Jade's casting was announced on 5 September 2015. Jade told Jonathon Moran of The Daily Telegraph, "I'm always asked when I will do more acting & now I am saying yes, I am coming to the Bay. It is really exciting. I've wanted to do more acting & I wanted to do something unexpected & different and this is very very different to Kylie." Jade began filming her first scenes three days after her casting announcement. She wrapped her stint on the show in November.Isla comes to Summer Bay with "bad intentions" and Jade said she would have "a bit of a past". Isla also becomes a love interest for one of the male characters. Jade later described her character as "a bit naughty − a bit of a bad girl", as she has become involved with some bad people. However, Jade added that Isla would mean well.
Isla goes to Angelo's and flirts with Kyle Braxton, before informing someone on the phone that she has found him. Isla later tells Kyle that she works for Dave Rogers, a man Kyle lost money to during a poker game in Melbourne. Dave has sent Isla to collect Kyle's debt, but Kyle does not pay up. When Dave makes threats, Kyle tries to get Isla out of Summer Bay to protect her, but Dave has them kidnapped and driven out to the bush. Dave gives Kyle and Isla a shovel and tells them to dig their own graves. They manage to escape and Kyle goes to the police. He lets Isla stay with him and they have sex. Isla's former partner, [|Harry Kingswood], brings their daughters to Summer Bay to visit her. After spending the day with them, Isla later takes her daughter and Harry threatens to call the police. Kyle finds Isla working in a brothel and convinces her to return the girls to Harry. When Isla learns Harry is moving interstate, she buys a gun and tries to rob the Reefton Lakes golf club. Kyle finds out her plan and arrives to talk her out of it. He convinces her to run, just as the police storm the building. Kyle is arrested and charged with armed robbery. He refuses to give up Isla to the police as he wants her to have a better life with her daughters. Isla intends to hand herself in, but Kyle takes the money and the gun and gives them to the police with his fingerprints on them. Isla comes to see Ricky Sharpe, who informs her Kyle has been sentenced to thirteen years in prison. When Ricky tells Isla that she hopes she was worth it, Isla states that she will make sure she is. She adds that Kyle is the best man she has ever known, before leaving.
Lindsay Ford
Lindsay Ford, played by Georgia Flood, made her first appearance on 17 March 2016. Flood's casting was announced on 7 October 2015, while her character was revealed in March 2016. When Flood was offered the role, she was unsure that she could see herself on the show, but thought her character was "really cool" and accepted. She enjoyed filming her guest appearance, commenting, "I loved, loved doing it and would go back there in a heartbeat."Lindsay tries to contact Hunter King, but he refuses to take her calls. She later comes to the caravan park to see him. She introduces herself to Hunter's girlfriend Olivia and reveals that she was the person who picked Hunter up the night he left Summer Bay. Hunter thanks Lindsay for letting him stay with her and she explains that she wanted to see him after reading that his father is in prison. Lindsay also mentions that she plans on staying for a while, but adds that she does not want to ruin Hunter and Olivia's relationship. However, she later tells Olivia that she and Hunter kissed. Lindsay comes to check on Hunter and he apologises for leading her on, before asking her to leave so he can fix his relationship with Olivia. Lindsay runs into Olivia on the beach and implies that she and Hunter did more than just kiss. When Olivia later sees Lindsay with her arm around Hunter, she ends their relationship. Lindsay throws a party on the beach and pays [|Drew Panton] to make advances towards Olivia, so she can take a photo of them together. Hunter and Olivia break up. Lindsay goes to the diner and purposely annoys Olivia, who attempts to hit her. Lindsay meets up with Hunter, telling him that Olivia has moved on. They spend the day watching films and Lindsay tries to kiss Hunter, but he tells her he just wants to be friends. Lindsay steals Alf Stewart's ute and Hunter is knocked unconscious trying to stop her. Lindsay flees the scene. She later meets up with Olivia, who tells her to leave town or she will call the police about Hunter's accident.